MORE HOLIDAY TRAVEL LIKELY

More people are expected to travel during the Thanksgiving weekend this year than last year, and air travel across the Northeast is expected to rise significantly, travel industry officials said.

About 85 percent of holiday travelers nationally are expected to take ground transportation, and motorists on Connecticut roads will face gasoline prices that are about 22 percent higher than last year, according to a survey conducted for the American Automobile Association.

Overall, the survey predicts that about 35.9 million people will travel 50 or more miles from home during the weekend -- 1.7 percent more than last year.

The numbers point to an American public that is gradually losing its fear of traveling in a post-Sept. 11 world, although many travelers still stick close to home, industry executives said.

"It's hard to compare since 9/11. This Thanksgiving, hopefully, will be more of a normal traffic pattern for airports, as they are predicting," said Donna Collins, a travel agent at Travelworks Inc. in Wallingford. "It's mostly people going to see their families."

The AAA survey forecasts that air travel across the Northeast this weekend will be about 900,000, or almost 15 percent higher than in 2001, although not everyone agrees with that percentage.

However, he said Bradley does expect more passengers to travel by air this Thanksgiving weekend than last, when air travel declined in the face of a softening national economy and the aftereffects of Sept. 11.

"We have been told by airlines that there have been more seats sold this year because there are more seats available this year, and that's a good thing," Korta said.

However, although the number of flights has been slowly increasing from the post-Sept. 11 trough, the number of airline flights still remains down about 10 percent overall from last year, according to AAA.

Bad weather could also interfere with some people's travel plans this year, depending on when they depart.

The National Weather Service on Monday issued a winter storm watch for late Tuesday night into Wednesday, saying the first moderate snowfall of the season could occur across northern Connecticut. This includes Hartford, Tolland and Windham counties.

The weather service cautions that people with travel plans should monitor the latest forecasts.

Storm or not, planes are expected to be anywhere from 60 percent to 95 percent full, and the heaviest travel day is expected to be Sunday, when many people are expected to return home, Korta said.

Gasoline prices in Connecticut this average $1.56 a gallon for regular unleaded self-serve, according to AAA. That's up 22 percent from the average $1.28-a-gallon price last year.

In the Hartford area, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline on Monday was $1.55.

Collins, the Wallingford travel agent, said Christmas and New Year's bookings are filling fast, especially for destinations in the Caribbean. She recently booked a $515 airfare for one client traveling from New York to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. Those tickets normally cost about $800.

"Passengers are not shy anymore," she said. "Most of our traveling clients are past what has happened."

Higher Holiday Gasoline Prices

Motorists traveling this holiday weekend will find Connecticut gasoline prices more than 20 percent higher than the same time last year.